You are here

UAFS Nursing Program Receives $50,000 From State

UAFS Nursing Program Receives $50,000 From State

CHAD HUNTER • TIMES RECORD / Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel speaks with University of Arkansas at Fort Smith officials Thursday, Sept. 26, 2013, during a brief ceremony during which he presented the school with a $50,000 check.

Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, in town for a Freedom of Information Act Road Show, met with UAFS leaders in a brief ceremony at the Smith-Pendergraft Campus Center. He said the money comes from a settlement with GlaxoSmithKline to resolve allegations the pharmaceutical manufacturer unlawfully promoted its diabetes drug Avandia. Arkansas’ portion of the $90 million settlement was $1.5 million.

“We got a good chunk of money from that case, and we’re trying to distribute it in ways that are consistent with the underlying health-related litigation,” McDaniel said. “It certainly seemed to me there was no better place to distribute some of those funds than right here at UA Fort Smith.”

According to university officials, the money will be used to purchase equipment for a lab in the nursing degree program.

“We are producing more and more nursing graduates,” UAFS provost and senior vice chancellor Ray Wallace said. “They’re all finding jobs in the area. We are going forward with our master’s in health care administration, so this will be very helpful.”

“You know the words ‘healthcare’ and ‘healthcare access’ are buzzwords now in the media,” Mosley said. “But noticeably absent from the discussion is who’s going to provide the care. I can tell you right now it’s nurses. Even though we have 3.2 million nurses nationally, it’s still not enough.”

UAFS has 650 majors in the nursing degree program.

Also on hand Thursday was Sen. Gary Stubblefield, R-Branch, who encouraged the gift to boost the university’s nursing program.